January2018

January 2018 Edition | GSN Magazine | The News Leader in Physical, IT and Homeland Security
Cybersecurity
Pilot Project Helps Secure First Responder
Apps From Cyberattacks
Washington, D.C.—A pilot project
by the Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) Science and Technology
Directorate (S&T) resulted in the
successful remediation of potential
cybersecurity vulnerabilities in mobile
applications (apps) used by the
nation’s public-safety professionals,
supporting the creation of an on-going
mobile app-testing program.
In emergency and disaster situations,
mobile devices and apps enable
public-safety professionals to receive
and share critical information in real-time,
which enhances the delivery
of life-saving services. As reliance
on mobile technology grows, it is
important that mobile apps used by
public safety are free of malware or
vulnerabilities.
The pilot testing project—“Securing
Mobile Applications for First
Responders”—was a joint effort of
the Homeland Security Advanced
Research Project Agency’s Cyber
Security Division, S&T’s First Responder
Group (FRG), Association
of Public-Safety Communications
Officials (APCO) and Kryptowire,
LLC, the developer of a leading
mobile app-vetting platform that was
funded by S&T.
Its dual goals were to improve mobile
app security for the public-safety
community and determine the need
for a sustainable model for testing
the security and privacy-protection
capabilities of public-safety apps.
To these ends, the pilot sought to
determine the degree to which the
selected public-safety apps are vulnerable
to cyberattacks—malware,
ransomware and spyware—or had
coding vulnerabilities that could
compromise the device’s security,
expose personal data or allow for
eavesdropping.
“This pilot project illustrates the
efficacy, benefits and value an ongoing
app-testing program will provide
to the public-safety community and
the nation,” said Vincent Sritapan,
S&T’s Program Manager for Mobile
Security Research and Development.
“During the testing phase, numerous
cyber vulnerabilities were identified
and remediated. This model can be
used to ensure all apps used by the
public-safety professionals are secured
against cyberattacks and other
security and privacy weaknesses.”
For the study, APCO selected 33
popular apps (iOS and Android
versions counted separately) created
by 20 developers that are offered
through AppComm, its public-safety
application directory. The pilot was
conducted over three months by the
team using Kryptowire’s mobile app
software testing platform integrated
into APCO’s AppComm website.
The testing scrutinized each app’s
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